Did the Pandemic Make Fundraising Events Obsolete?
Fundraising events have been on the decline for years as a result of their low ROI compared to direct solicitation, mailings, and capital campaigns. It's no secret that the top performing organizations in the country hold only one or even zero "fundraising" events per year and focus on only recognition/stewardship for their in-person events.
Though this has been a slow trend, the ongoing pandemic obviously accelerated the decline in more ways than one. With few exceptions, every active charity in the United States had an event canceled in 2020/2021. Many saw a dip in revenue as a result, but in the cases that organizations focused on staying connected with their donors, the revenue drop was minimal.
Fundraising events are easy to hide behind because they are often less intimidating than the alternative: asking for money one-on-one and developing lasting relationships with donors. These are the hardest and yet the most rewarding aspects of our job as philanthropists, and events can become our excuse as to why we do not engage with donors as much. Our galas and our golf tournaments often take months of staff hours booking vendors and securing sponsors, and it always feels like purposeful work, but in the back of our minds, we know we could spend those same hours cultivating a major donor and double our revenue.
Choosing to let go of an event is not a comfortable choice, as it presents an unknown for our year. Can we meet out goals? Will we be able to reach enough donors without it? That $10,000 or even $100,000 from the event takes multiple months of event prep to raise, but it's the safe choice, the guarantee, so we stick with it.
Much of our uncertainty during the pandemic was, "Will I be able to make up for my lost event revenue?" But we can look at it as an opportunity to say, "YES, and this is the perfect opportunity to shift my focus onto what I know will drive revenue for my organization and our mission."
As an industry, let us be bold with our new normal and focus on what will best meet our community needs. Here are some actionable steps to capitalize on the situation as we hope to move out of the pandemic and back into how fundraising was meant to be conducted.
Convert an old fundraising event to a recognition event for all the donors since the pandemic started, and consider it a celebration of their support
Don't revive the event at all and instead, focus on your top-25 major gifts prospect list. That two months of work could be used to get just two or three major gifts and more than make up the lost revenue
Talk to your top supporters and ask them how to best recognize their peers. Chances are, they will be in favor of you not spending organizational funds on a large event.
Still have that event fever? Consider third party events! A separate organization holds an event, covers the expenses and planning, and writes you a check at the end for the cash netted. Your staff and volunteer time is still freed up for major gifts!
So did COVID end fundraising events for good? With any luck, yes.
Want more free fundraising content and information straight to your inbox every week? Sign up for our mailing list!
